April 14, 2013 Easter 3
John 21:1-19
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.
2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.
3Simon Peter said to
them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’
They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ 6He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ 16A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ 17He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’
*****************
After the resurrection for a period of about 40 days, Jesus appeared to
his disciples several
times. Last week we read about how he appeared in their locked
room where they huddled in fear. He breathed on them and said, “Peace be with
you. As the Father sent me so I am sending you.” Other gospels record that he
appeared to the disciples with other messages like, “You are my witnesses in
Judea, Samaria and all the world.” Matthew’s gospel gets the distinction of
giving Jesus’ “Great Commission”: Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.
This week we hear Jesus get very
specific with Peter: “Do you love me Peter? Then feed my sheep. Tend my lambs.
Follow me.” It doesn’t quite have the ring to it that the “great” commission
has. But nevertheless, it is Peter’s commission, and it is ours as well when we
claim to be followers of Christ.
In the Bible the term “sheep” is
used to talk about God’s people, especially God’s most vulnerable, most beloved
people. People who need care and attention. And so as followers of Christ, we
are called, well, commanded really, to love Christ by loving his sheep.
We’ve talked before about different kinds of love. In
Greek there are three words for love, eros, philos and agape. Eros is the love
between two people, philos is the love of friends, and agape is the love of
God.
Now, sometimes we rank these different kinds of love. We
think that eros is on the bottom of the list, philos in the middle and agape on
the top as the highest form of love. But that is not necessarily how Jesus saw
it. Back in chapter fifteen, Jesus tells his disciples that no one has great
agape than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends- that’s philos. And he
says, “I no longer call you servants, but friends,” as in philos.
So Jesus says to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you agape
me?” And Peter answers, “Lord you know that I philos you.” The same happens a
second time. The third time, Jesus changes the question a bit. He asks Peter,
“Simon son of John, do you philos me?” And Peter answers correctly, “Lord you
know everything, you know that I philos you.” Jesus calls Peter to the kind of
love that Jesus has for his disciples, that’s the kind of love that feeds his
sheep and eventually leads to Peter’s martyrdom.
This is the kind of love to which we also are called-
friendship love, love that serves the neighbor. Love that feeds people. Love
that leads others to God’s love. Love that may lead us to places we’d rather
not go to love folks we’d rather not love. This kind of love is an action
oriented love. Love shown in doing, especially doing for others.
Action in the name of Christ is
one of the primary orientations of this congregation. We like to do – stuff,
whatever needs to be done. Today we’re going to hear from Barb Myckowiak about
the group Compassion International. Many of you have adopted children through
Compassion and helped to give a child food and shelter, education and health
care.
Wes Stafford — he is the CEO of
Compassion International —
lived much of his early life in Africa, grew up there in the midst of poverty, and he sums up God’s position very straightforwardly.
He says, “God says, ‘You mess with them, you mess with Me. You bless them, I will bless people.’” Scripture is chalk full of admonishments to care for the
poor -
over 550 verses that deal specifically with God’s heart for the poor. For example, Proverbs 19 [verse 17, NIV]
tells us, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.” Or Deuteronomy 15 [verse 11, NIV], “There will always be poor in the land. Therefore I
command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”
Jesus himself, in articulating his mission as he began his ministry,
had the whole Old Testament to choose from, and
what he chose was a section — verses from Isaiah [Luke 4:18-19, NIV, quoting Isaiah 61:1]. These ones: “The Spirit of the
Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” When you read and study Scripture, you cannot help but notice God’s
inclination to speak out on behalf … [of the
poor].
Unfortunately in our world, the poor are everywhere, down
the street and across the oceans. Particularly unfortunately, especially in
this country, when we talk about the poor we often get accused of “political”
conversations – which almost always does not mean political as in “about people,”
but partisan as in if you care about the poor you’re a bleeding heart liberal
or if you don’t you’re a stone cold conservative – neither of which are true,
all-encompassing characterizations by-the-way.
The biblical mandate is plain. It’s not about a political agenda. It’s
not about a humanitarian philosophy. It’s about developing in each one of us a
heart that represents God’s heart in this world. So as Christian people, we are to feed the sheep, tend the lambs – in other words be standing up for
those who are helpless, giving a voice to those who have no voice, reaching out to those in need, both
spiritually and physically needy.
According to one definition, this is what makes the poor, poor. It’s a
fact that they cannot speak up for
themselves.
The World Development Report lists — gives a definition of poverty this way.
“Poor people live without
fundamental freedoms of action and choice that the better-off take for granted.
They often lack adequate food and
shelter, education and health, deprivations that keep them from leading the kind of life that everyone values. They also face
extreme vulnerability to ill health, economic dislocation, and natural disasters. And they are often exposed to
ill treatment by institutions of the
state and society and are powerless to
influence key decisions affecting their lives. These are all dimensions of
poverty.” By definition, poverty
limits the voice of those who are poor. It’s no wonder that Scripture admonishes us: Speak up for those who don’t have a
choice.
Now, certainly there are all kinds of rationales I could articulate not
to speak up for the poor, reasons like, you know, I work
hard, I earn what I have, so should they. Or there is so much poverty in this world, how in the world can I, as one person, ever
hope to make any kind of significant difference?
And, you know, there may be some truth, in fact, to the hesitancies
that we have to reach out to the poor. But
again, bottom line, more than anything, Jesus is concerned about your heart becoming like God’s heart.
And so his teachings do not reflect any wisdom on why you should not
reach out to those who don’t deserve it.
Jesus’ focus is just the opposite, for he wanted you to get in touch with God’s grace, to reflect that in your life. And so his teaching focuses us toward grace. Jesus
said, “I came not to be served, but to serve.” So should you. “Love one another,” he said, “just as I have loved you.”
And also, in terms of the words, “Whatever you
do to the least of these, you in turn do it to Me.” In so doing, Jesus knew we would begin to develop a heart that reflected
the image of God’s heart for all people.
And so, Jesus
says to us, “Peter, Harry, Barb, Karen, Nancy, Joe, John, I know that you love
me. Now feed my sheep.” Let us boldly love our Lord and tend his flock.
Amen. [i]
[i] Portions
of this sermon adapted from http://www.compassionsunday.com/pastorResources.php
sermon by Pastor Chuck Williams, Hope Lutheran
No comments:
Post a Comment